T2 Inner West and Leppington line
The Inner West and Leppington Line is the collective term for the Inner West line, and the South line extending to Leppington. On maps and platforms it also referred to by the code . South West Rail Link The South West Rail Link was built by Transport for New South Wales from Glenfield to Leppington, New South Wales, with two new stations at Edmondson Park and Leppington itself, serving the new town centres to be built there. There is also a yard at Rossmore. The line is currently fed by T2 South Line trains. For a period after opening, the line ran as a 30 minute shuttle from Liverpool. In conjunction with the new line, Wolli Creek station was expected to have two extra platforms constructed to service passengers on the future Campbelltown Express line, but this ultimately didn't happen. The project was split into two stages. Stage one includes an upgrade of Glenfield station with a new platform and a flyover at Glenfield North Junction to take East Hills line trains over the Main South line. Stage two is the new line itself, which was completed in 2014 and then opened towards the beginning of 2015. Inner West Line The Inner West Line is a railway line located in the Inner West region of Sydney, Australia. It runs on the section of track sometimes known as the Main Suburban railway line. As of the November 2017 timetable update, it now runs all-stations services to Parramatta on weekdays. These services replaced some express Western Line trains at Lidcombe, Auburn and Granville. The Parramatta extension also allowed customers from most stations between Redfern and Strathfield to get a direct service to Parramatta for the first time, without the need for interchange with Western Line services at Strathfield or Lidcombe. Main Suburban Line The Main Suburban railway line is the technical name for the trunk railway line between Redfern railway station and Parramatta railway station in Sydney, Australia, but now generally refers to the section between Redfern and where the Old Main South Line branches off at Granville Junction. This term distinguished this trunk line from the Illawarra Line which branched south from the Illawarra Junction to Wollongong, and later the North Shore tracks which carried trains north over the Harbour Bridge. This section of railway line is Sydney's oldest, opening in 1855. The line was quadruplicated to Flemington in 1892. The line saw its most dramatic change in the period 1926-1927, when the section from Redfern to Homebush was expanded from four to six tracks by the addition of two tracks initially intended for non-electric express trains. Prior to 1926, all stations on the line had platform faces to all four tracks, and the tracks were labelled as 'fast' and 'slow'. After the completion of works in 1927, only Redfern and Strathfield had platform faces on all six tracks. The four tracks now known as the 'Up and Down Local lines' and the 'Up and Down Suburban Lines' were electrified in 1928. It was not until 1955 that the 'Up and Down Main Lines' were also electrified to coincide with the opening of the Blue Mountains electrification program. Description of Route The route of the Inner West Line consist of three pairs of tracks between Central and Strathfield stations (six tracks in total), designated as Main (the northern-most pair), Suburban (the inner pair) and the Local (the southernmost pair) lines. At Strathfield, the Main North Line branches off, and four tracks continue westwards. At Lidcombe, the Main South line branches off towards Regents Park and on to Cabramatta where the line meets the Old Main South from Granville, continuing south to Liverpool and beyond. What Sydney Trains currently markets as the Inner West Line are services which originate from an anti-clockwise direction around the City Circle, passing through Redfern and along the 'local' pair of tracks to Strathfield, then on through Lidcombe to Regents Park. Here trains alternately operate along the 'Main South' to Liverpool via Cabramatta, or to Bankstown, becoming Bankstown line services. History The Inner West line between Redfern and Granville is the route of the first railway line to be constructed in New South Wales. The first company to start rail transport in New South Wales was the Sydney Railway Company which was incorporated on 10 October 1849 with the aim of building a railway from Sydney to Parramatta. Capital was raised, shares were sold, and a route was surveyed. The first sod was turned by Mrs Keith Stewart (daughter of the Governor) at Cleveland Paddocks (an area between the southern end of the current Sydney station and Cleveland Street) on 20 May 1850. The original engineer appointed was Francis Webb Sheilds, an Irishman. He persuaded the New South Wales legislature to pass an Act on 27 July 1852 requiring all railways in the colony to be of 5 ft 3 in (1,600 mm) gauge. This was the gauge in use in Ireland and is now referred to as 1600 mm gauge. After Shields resigned due to the difficulties, a Scot named James Wallace was appointed. Wallace persuaded the legislature to repeal the previous act and replace it, on 4 August 1853, with one requiring a gauge of 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) - the current standard gauge. (Unfortunately for Australia, the legislation requiring the broad gauge had been noted in the colonies of Victoria and South Australia and some rolling-stock ordered.) The Sydney Railway Company encountered many troubles: engineers came and went; real estate required became expensive and difficult to acquire; money, supplies and manpower ran short, partly because of a gold rush. Eventually the property of the Sydney Railway Company was transferred to the government of New South Wales on 3 September 1855. The line opened on 26 September 1855, from Sydney to Parramatta Junction (near Granville Station), with stations at Newtown, Ashfield, Burwood and Homebush. The Sydney terminal station was on the south side of Devonshire Street, just south of the current Central Station. Although the vicinity was sometimes referred to as Redfern, it was not near the current Redfern station. Current Services The line currently runs between Homebush (and Parramatta on weekdays) and City Circle, following the completion of the turnback at Homebush, breaking the "Bankstown Circle" to prepare the T3 Bankstown Line for conversion to rapid-transit for the Sydney Metro network. Services stop all stops between Homebush and the City, running between South Line services on the local tracks between Homebush and Central. At Central, the line continues onto the City Circle as the City Outer track, travelling clockwise via Town Hall to form T8 Airport & South Line and T3 Bankstown Line services. As of November 2017, the Inner West line now extends to Parramatta, with all-stations services running on weekdays between Parramatta and the City Circle. This replaced some T1 Western Line services at stations between Strathfield and Parramatta, with the Western Line now serving the corridor on weekends and public holidays only. As with all other Sector 2 lines, the T2 line operates all Sydney Trains suburban fleets except for the Tangara T sets. Nomenclature Prior to 1996, the Inner West line was considered part of the Bankstown Line and was coloured brown on promotional material and directional signage. A timetable named Parramatta Line carried details of all services between Parramatta and the City, including Northern, Southern, Western and Bankstown line services. The section between Lidcombe and Cabramatta via Regents Park was considered part of the Macarthur Line (what is now the South Line), and was colour-coded green. From 1996, when the Merrylands to Harris Park Y- Link opened and the timetable was re-written, the Lidcombe to Cabramatta via Regents Park section was colour coded brown and a new timetable labelled Liverpool- City via Regents Park was published. The August 1999 timetable revision saw the term Inner West Line used for the first time, and the line was colour coded purple which it has maintained to the present day, until the 2013 route changes, which had the T2 line coloured as green. After the line was separated into the T2 Inner West and Leppington Line and T8 Airport and South Line, the T2 line was given a light blue colour code, while the new T8 line inherited the green. South Line The South Line (line colour: light blue, originally green) is a railway line in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and is part of the Sydney Trains suburban network. This line conveys passengers between stations on the City Circle and the south-western suburbs of Sydney, including Fairfield, Liverpool and Leppington, travelling via Granville. Description of Route What is marketed by Sydney Trains as the 'South Line', (originally called the Great Southern Line) branches from the Main Western Line at Granville. A flyover carries the 'up' (northbound) line over the 'Y Link' tracks (which carry the Cumberland Line services) between Merrylands and Harris Park. The line proceeds south through Merrylands, Guildford and Yennora stations which all have side platforms. North of Yennora station is a connection to a non-electrified goods siding to a Wool Store. The next station is Fairfield, where a set of trailing points at the north of the station allow southbound trains to terminate on platform 2 and return to the city. The line then continues south through Canley Vale station (2 side platforms) before joining the line from Lidcombe via Regents Park at Cabramatta. This junction is at-grade. This line thus described is known technically as the 'Old Main South' line. It is the original alignment of the Main South Railway Line before a more direct route was constructed between Lidcombe and Cabramatta via Regents Park (what Sydney Trains now markets as part of the Inner West Line). The line continues as a two track electrified line south through Warwick Farm (2 side platforms) station. South of Warwick Farm, a former line to Warwick Farm Racecourse branched off in an eastbound direction. This line is now closed and the tracks lifted, however the platform face remains at the racecourse station site. The line continues south to meet the East Hills line at-grade at Glenfield Junction. Three platforms are provided at Glenfield to allow southbound trains to terminate and return to the city. The line continues south to Campbelltown, where three platforms are also provided. The final station is Macarthur, south of Campbelltown. This is the current limit of electrification and of suburban services. Three platforms are provided here to allow suburban trains to terminate clear of the mainlines which continue south through the Southern Highlands to Albury and ultimately to Melbourne. Services Most trains services operate from the City Circle in an anticlockwise direction, their origin is most commonly the Airport and East Hills Line. Services then continue south from Central and along the Main Suburban Railway between Redfern and Strathfield usually utilising the 'local' or southern-most set of the six tracks between these two stations. From Strathfield, South Line trains operate on the southern pair of the four tracks to Granville, services then branch off heading south. Most South Line trains terminate at Leppington, following the opening of the South West Rail Link. Before it opened, most services terminated at Glenfield. This is partially to relieve South Line trains of commuters travelling from the City to stations between Glenfield and Campbelltown who are encouraged to use the more direct Airport and East Hills Line instead. During weekdays, there are at least four services during peak hours and two trains per hour during off-peak hours. On weekends, there are four trains per hour at weekends day times between 7:30 am to 5:30 pm. The South Line is also particularly used by commuters travelling from the south-western suburbs to the regional business districts of Parramatta and Blacktown - especially when the part-time Cumberland Line is not in operation - by changing for the Western Line at Granville. In 2009-2010 the South line ranked 12th out of 16 lines in reliability and only managed to provide 93.7% of services on time. Nomenclature The South line has had several different names. As mentioned, the section between Granville and Cabramatta is technically the 'Old Main South', and the section south of Cabramatta is technically the 'Main South' (which continues to Albury). Prior to 1991, the line was advertised as the Macarthur Line, and it included the section from Lidcombe to Cabramatta via Regents Park, which is now part of the Inner West Line. From 1992-1996, the South Line was designated the Campbelltown via Liverpool Line. From 1996-1999, the line was known as Macarthur via Granville. The line is sometimes still known colloquially as the Granville Line, due to announcements at some stations, particularly between Liverpool and Campbelltown, referring to city-bound trains as going to the "City via Granville". Since 1999, the line has carried its current designation of South Line. The line has previously been coloured green and integrated with the East Hills line on promotional material and in directional signage. Since 2000 the two lines have been separated and the South Line has been coloured pale blue. Despite these cosmetic changes, since 1987 when the Glenfield to East Hills link was completed, the manner in which trains operate on the line has remained essentially unchanged. With the 2016 timetable and network updates, the South West Link from Leppington to Glenfield was integrated into the line, with services on the line now extending to Leppington as a result. Stations |} Gallery Stations MuseumStation.jpg|Museum St_James_Station_Platform_1.jpg|St James Circular_quay_railway_station_exterior_from_water.jpg|Circular Quay Wynyard_railway_station_stairs_at_top_of_p_3_%26_4.jpg|Wynyard Town_Hall_Railway_Station_Platform_2.jpg|Town Hall CentralStation.jpg|Central Redfern_railway_station.jpg|Redfern MacdonaldtownStation.jpg|Macdonaldtown NewtownStation.jpg|Newtown StanmoreStation.JPG|Stanmore PetershamStation.jpg|Petersham LewishamStation.jpg|Lewisham SummerHillStation.jpg|Summer Hill AshfieldStation.jpg|Ashfield CroydonStation.jpg|Croydon Burwood.jpg|Burwood Strathfield_railway_station.jpg|Strathfield HomebushStation.jpg|Homebush FlemingtonStation.jpg|Flemington Lidcombe_Railway_Station.jpg|Lidcombe AuburnStation.jpg|Auburn ClydeStation.jpg|Clyde Granvillestation.jpg|Granville HarrisParkStation.jpg|Harris Park ParramattaStation.jpg|Parramatta MerrylandsStation.jpg|Merrylands GuildfordStation.jpg|Guildford YennoraStation.jpg|Yennora FairfieldStation.jpg|Fairfield CanleyValeStation.jpeg|Canley Vale CabramattaStation.jpg|Cabramatta WarwickFarmStation.jpg|Warwick Farm LiverpoolStation.JPG|Liverpool CasulaStation.jpg|Casula GlenfieldStation.jpg|Glenfield EdmondsonParkStation.jpg|Edmondson Park LeppingtonStation.jpg|Leppington Fleet ASet.jpg|Waratah A Set BSet.jpg|Series 2 Waratah B Set SydneyTrainsMset.jpeg|Millennium M Set (weekdays only) SydneyTrainsKsetNew.jpeg|K Set (weekdays only) CityRail-Cset-C13-at-BardwellPark.jpg|C Set (weekdays only) References Category:Sydney Trains Category:Sydney Trains Lines Category:City of Sydney Category:Inner West Council Category:Burwood Council Category:Strathfield Council Category:Cumberland Council Category:City of Parramatta Category:City of Fairfield Category:City of Liverpool Category:Camden Council Category:City of Canada Bay Category:City of Campbelltown